Close to the Edge
by Skyblaze
Summary: Sarah sees a disturbing vision of what could be - set after 'Eclipse'.


Close To The Edge

Author's Notes: This is actually set after 'Yours is No Disgrace'. Apologies for the confusion, but my muses insisted I write this out before I forgot it.   
Dedicated to my beloved Steven, because you didn't let me fall. 

Then according to the man who showed his outstretched arm to space,  
He turned around and pointed, revealing all the human race.  
I shook my head and smiled a whisper, knowing all about the place. 

The sky was grey and overcast, hiding the sun from all view. It seemed to fit somehow, the cold, dark day seemed in tune with the sense of danger that was everywhere around. Encroaching entropy, approaching nothingness. Despair and destruction echoed on the wind, whistling mournfully through the massive steel struts of the huge radio telescope.  
Sarah looked up at it, and a strong feeling of dread coursed through her, making her shiver from more than cold. She could see a figure crawling slowly up one of the gantries purposefully. He was dressed in a red frock coat, with a long scarf dangling from his neck...Sarah gasped involuntarily.  
"Doctor..."  
Then the wind changed direction, and Sarah felt herself carried along with it until she stood on top of the tower, watching as the Doctor - her Doctor - desperately tried to unplug a thick cable. His movements were slow, almost painful and there was an aching melancholy in his usually cheerful face. The sight made Sarah's heart ache. She wanted to reach out to him, help him, comfort him...but she felt frozen in place, unable to move while the man she loved wrestled with something more than the physical task he was engaged in. The gantry he knelt on suddenly shook violently and two of the hinges at one side detached themselves. A gasp was wrenched from the Doctor's lungs as he clawed at the cable, tearing it from it's housing before his balance failed him and he fell.   
Sarah tried to scream his name as she watched him slide off the platform and dangle precariously from the hundred-foot high tower. She sobbed soundlessly as the scene played out before her eyes, she could see the Doctor's alien blood staining the strut he gripped, she looked into his eyes, seeing not the terror she expected, but rather a look of both regret and acceptance almost as if he knew he would fall - and had known it from the moment he began his climb. His grip slipped a little as even Time Lord strength began to wear out...  
"No!" Sarah screamed, at last released from the torturous paralysis. She rushed to his aid, grabbing hold of his arm and hauling him upwards with a surge of terrified, adrenalised strength. His bright blue eyes were astonished and strangely proud.  
"Sarah...?" He whispered... 

Sarah opened her eyes, finding herself looking up at the Doctor.  
"Sarah...?" He asked in precisely the same tone as her dream, his mobile face was filled with concern. Sarah sat up and took a deep, shuddering breath, surprised and relieved to find herself back on the TARDIS, in the Doctor's room. Her heart was beating ten to the dozen, and she was shivering violently.  
"It...was just a dream." She said, but her words didn't sound convincing, even to her own ears. The Doctor took her gently in his arms, enfolding her in a comforting embrace.  
"No." He said softly, gravely. Sarah looked astonished.  
"What do you mean?"  
"The TARDIS just passed through the outer edge of the temporal boundary around Gallifrey. At that point, space-time is in a state of flux, sometimes travellers can pick up images or thoughts or even memories from the past or future." He explained, gently massaging her shoulders as he did so. Sarah felt her heartbeat slowing as she enjoyed the feeling of his cool fingers on her bare skin.  
"Like Déjà vu?" She asked.   
"Yes, just like." He smiled as she relaxed back into his embrace. She tilted her head back so her dark eyes peered up at him.  
"Did...you see some of that too?" She said, referring obliquely to their link.  
"Hmm? Oh, I got an impression of what you were seeing...you called my name."  
"Will that really happen someday?" She asked in a soft, nervous voice.  
"Oh, it might...and it might not. The Universe is full of possibilities, Sarah Jane." He said, stroking her hair in what he hoped was a soothing way.  
Sarah chuckled quietly, "That means you don't know, Doctor."  
He tried to look affronted, but she just laughed and closed her eyes. "Will I have another dream like that?" She asked as she lay back down. The Doctor snuggled up behind her, wrapping as much of himself as he could around her.  
"Oh, I doubt it, we're well away from the boundary now." He said, and then he kissed her softly of the cheek. "I'll make sure you sleep well."  
Sarah smiled, "Doctor?"  
"Hmm?"  
"I'd never have let you fall."


End file.
